Abigail Spanberger addresses supporters while accepting the Democratic nomination in the 7th District congressional race. (Photo by Sarah King)
Backed by her family and bouquets of blue balloons, former CIA officer and Glen Allen resident Abigail Spanberger won Tuesday’s Democratic primary to challenge Republican 7th District Rep. Dave Brat in the November election.
Speaking to 300 cheering supporters in The Westin hotel ballroom in Henrico County, Spanberger said, “Tonight, after 11 months, more than 100 meet-and-greets and thousands of miles driven across the district, I am humbled and honored to accept the Democratic nomination. … Please enjoy yourselves tonight, because we’re going back to work tomorrow.”
According to results posted by the Virginia Public Access Project, Spanberger won 33,198 votes — nearly 73 percent of the ballots cast — topping primary opponent Dan Ward, a Marine Corps veteran and military advisor. Brat also faces challenges from Libertarian candidate Joe Walton and Helen Alli of the Whig party in the 7th District, which stretches from Culpeper through Richmond’s western outskirts to Blackstone.
Spanberger joined four other women to win Democratic congressional primaries Tuesday, among them Vangie Williams, a strategic planner who will challenge Republican incumbent Rob Wittman in the 1st District, which extends from Fauquier County to Williamsburg and the Northern Neck, taking in part of the Richmond region. Jennifer Wexton won the party's nomination in the 10th District, along with Elaine Luria in the 2nd District and Jennifer Lewis in the 6th. A sixth candidate, Leslie Cockburn, received the Democratic nomination in the 5th District through a convention.
Williams, who lives in King George County, became the first African-American woman to win the Democratic nomination in the district, according to her campaign. “I’m overjoyed for the voters who believe in me and my vision for the district,” Williams said in a statement.
In the 4th District, Ryan McAdams, a Charles City County resident and pastor, secured the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic incumbent Donald McEachin. McAdams won 17,510 votes (72.5 percent of the ballots cast), compared with 6,654 for primary opponent Shion Fenty, a small business owner and nonprofit volunteer. The district includes the city of Richmond and stretches south to the Virginia/North Carolina line.
“We need to take back the 4th,” McAdams told supporters Tuesday night (before the district was redrawn, leading to McEachin’s election, it was represented by Rebublican Randy Forbes), in comments posted live on Facebook. “We need representation in this district. We need congressmen that are going to stand for conservative principles, that are going to support our president.” He thanked Fenty, calling her “a good competitor” and “an awesome woman of God.”
In the statewide Republican U.S. Senate primary, President Donald Trump’s former Virginia campaign chairman, Corey Stewart became the nominee to challenge Democratic incumbent Tim Kaine. Stewart won 45 percent of the vote to defeat Nick Freitas, a House of Delegates representative from Culpeper (with 43 percent), and Chesapeake pastor E.W. Jackson (12 percent).
“We’re feeling pretty good, but you know it’s not over till the fat lady sings” Stewart said by phone from his watch party in Woodbridge, a little before 7 p.m.
Rich Meagher, an associate professor of political science at Randolph-Macon College, cautioned against reading too much into Stewart’s primary win.
“You'll probably see a lot of hand-wringing about the ‘Trumpification’ of Virginia and especially Virginia Republicans,” Meagher says via email. “But Nick Freitas had nowhere near the same kind of statewide recognition that Stewart had, and it was always going to be an uphill battle for him in this primary, even with the support of much of the party establishment. Not just the base of a party, but the core of that base, turns out for primary elections in non-presidential years.”
Andrew Crider, who voted after work at the Richmond Public Library on Franklin Street, was not part of that core.
“I believe it’s important we have legitimate races with people who have moral authority,” Crider, a Republican, said at the polling station. After hearing the results later, he said, “It’s tragic that Corey Stewart is now the representative for conservative ideals in the great commonwealth I’ve called home all my life.”
But in a pre-primary interview with Richmond magazine, Stewart insisted that he’s the right person to challenge Kaine.
“I’m very intent on going to Washington and supporting President Trump’s agenda — building the wall, cracking down on illegal immigration, rebuilding the military and bringing some significant federal funding into the highway system in Virginia,” said Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.
“I’ve been governing the second largest locality in the state for 12 years in Northern Virginia; it’s almost a half million people. I’ve been elected and re-elected four times in a Democratic area. … I’m a fighter, I’m not afraid to stand up to the political establishment, not afraid to stand up to the media, not afraid to stand up to Democrats, fight and get things done.”